It appears to be the vogue at the moment to offer updates on work, life, the universe, and mostly everything else. I've been a little slow with the blog recently, due to factors that will be discussed below. But hopefully things will start to change around slowly.
First, personal stuff. I'm within a few weeks/months of moving into new accommodation, which will mean disruptions to my life and work patterns. I'll be mitigating as much as possible, but there'll still be an awkward phase of making do, which I've never been good at. The current accommodation has served me well, but it's really not holding up well. This new one will be newer, and more suited to my current needs and wants as a creator and human. Also, I've been beginning what is the first module of an Open University degree, which will help me in my future career both with my writing and with other jobs.
On a work front, things have been bouncing between being stuck in a rut, and going great guns. The damage to my external hard drive where my work was stored--after forgetting to do backups in six months--has resolved into a situation where I've got everything back, plus a new external hard drive thrown in. OnTrack managed to get that all sorted out for a reasonable price given that I sent them a small and delicate device. In better news, the first round of edits for the second part of my Cluster Cycle (sample of the first one out now right here) have come in, been seen to, and sent back to my publisher. And looking through that book again gave me an odd feeling of maturity. I was able to see where my plotting and explanation had faltered, where my grammar hadn't been up to snuff, and put those to rights where sensible and possible. One project that looked promising has sadly folded for the moment as it wasn't panning out, while another is looking more promising and more...me.
The most difficult thing has been trying to works and keep my self-balance during a period where the world is going through another phase of turbulence that isn't just a localized issue, but spreading into national and international environments. We are also entering a time of new technological advances which are bringing new challenges and threats which haven't been addressed legally as yet. The world is uncertain, more than occasionally shitty, worse than Heinlein or Kojima could have envisioned it in a way. But there are still reasons to say 'this won't turn grimdark'. I just need to remember them.
Here's to a new home, a new book, a new year, a new period of education, and hopefully peace somewhere in this crazy world so we can take a breath and reflect. Stay hopeful.
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